Armie Hammer in first new film after ‘cannibal’ claims

Armie Hammer has returned to acting more than three years after he was cancelled over accusations of sexual misconduct and sharing cannibalistic fetishes.

The 38-year-old will star in Frontier Crucible, a western film adapted from the 1961 novel Desert Stake-Out by Harry Whittington, which will begin production in November.

Hammer’s career derailed in 2021 after several women came forward to accuse him of physical and emotional abuse, with one accusing him of rape. Messages also emerged in which he allegedly shared sexual fantasies about eating human body parts.

Hammer vehemently denied the allegations, maintaining that all interactions were consensual, but was dropped by several Hollywood projects, his talent agency and publicist.

After an investigation by the LA County District Attorney and the Los Angeles Police Department last year, no criminal charges were pursued.

Hammer, who starred in Oscar-winning film Call Me By Your Name, remains without representation other than his lawyer, according to Deadline.

Unverified screenshots were circulated on social media of lurid messages allegedly sent by the actor to various women between 2016 and 2020.

“I am 100 per cent a cannibal. I want to eat you. F—. That’s scary to admit. I’ve never admitted that before,” Hammer is alleged to have messaged Courtney Vucekovich, a Texan businesswoman.

“I have a fantasy about having someone prove their love and devotion and tying them up in a public place at night and making their body free use and seeing if they will f— strangers for me,” reads a text allegedly sent by Hammer to Julia Morrison, an artist who says she was contacted by the actor on Instagram.

In another text to Ms Morrison, Hammer is said to have written: “You don’t think or worry about anything except being a good little pet. My own personal little slave… in return you will be worshipped, fed and f—–.”

In the aftermath of the messages, the legitimacy of which he has always denied, Hammer separated from his then wife, Elizabeth Chambers, with whom he has two children.

After being removed from roles in the Paramount+ series The Offer and Jennifer Lopez’s romcom Shotgun Wedding, Hammer relocated to the Cayman Islands where he lived as a pariah and sold timeshares.

Hammer has now announced his return to the big screen by posting an image holding a film script and wearing a cowboy hat on Instagram, captioned: “Back in the saddle.”

Travis Mills will direct the project set in the 1870s, also starring Thomas Jane, Myles Clohessy, Eli Brown and Eddie Spears.

It will mark his first on-screen appearance since Death On The Nile which was released in 2022.

The announcement comes days after he announced he was launching a podcast titled Armie HammerTime.

In the debut show, Hammer told his guest: “You don’t get an apology tour in this world. Someone says something about you, everyone believes it and then they move on with their lives.”

“People called me a cannibal, and everyone believed them,” he said, adding: “They’re like, ‘Yep, that guy ate people’… Do you know what you have to do to be a cannibal? You have to eat people. How am I going to be a cannibal? It was bizarre.”

Hammer, whose great-grandfather is oil tycoon Armand Hammer, is also known for starring in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015) and The Social Network (2010).